Condemned killer William Earl Lynd was denied clemency Monday, setting him on course to be executed by lethal injection tonight.

Unless granted a stay, Lynd will be the first inmate executed nationwide since September when the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear a challenge to lethal injection procedures. Last month, the court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection, ending a de facto moratorium on executions.

Lynd, 53, was sentenced to death in Berrien County in South Georgia for the Dec. 22, 1988, murder of Ginger Moore, his live-in girlfriend. On Monday, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected his clemency bid.

Lynd's attorneys are now asking the Georgia Supreme Court to stay the execution. They contend Lynd's conviction was obtained with flawed testimony which has no basis in medical science.

This argument apparently has caught the attention of the state Supreme Court, which has asked attorneys on both sides to answer questions about evidence presented to the jury at trial.

According to testimony, Lynd shot Moore in the face during an argument. Moore regained consciousness, followed Lynd outside, and he shot her again. Lynd put Moore in the trunk of a car and drove away. What happened next is in dispute.

At trial, prosecutors argued Moore was still alive when Lynd put her in the trunk. According to testimony, Lynd heard a thumping sound, got out, opened the trunk and shot Moore a third time, killing her.

But Lynd's lawyers now say there is no evidence that Moore was alive when she was put in the trunk.

Lynd later buried Moore's body in a shallow grave in Tift County and drove to Ohio, where he shot another woman, who told police about the shooting before she died. Lynd was arrested Dec. 31, 1988, and his account of Moore's killing to authorities was used against him at trial.

Lynd's jury found two aggravating factors that made the murder eligible for the death penalty —- kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated battery. For Lynd to have kidnapped Moore, she had to still be alive when he put her in the trunk.

Wayne Tillman, the medical examiner, told jurors he believed Moore was alive when she was put in the trunk. Though Tillman was not a licensed physician, he was referred to as "Doctor" by lawyers during the trial.

Lynd's lawyers say Moore was dead when she was in the trunk because of the absence of evidence of heavy bleeding from a head wound. In an affidavit, Tillman now says that after looking at photos of the trunk —- photos he says he was not shown before he testified —- Moore's heart "was most likely not pumping when she was put in the trunk of the car."

Lynd's lawyers told the state Supreme Court the killing was without premeditation and fueled by substance abuse. "Tragic —-yes. Cold-blooded —- no," they said.

The state attorney general's office said Lynd's own confession supports the conclusion Moore was alive when she was put in the trunk.

Lynd is to be executed at 7 p.m. He has requested his last meal: two pepper jack barbecue burgers with crisp onions; two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese; and one large strawberry milk shake.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 40 men have been executed in Georgia. Lynd would be the 18th put to death by lethal injection. There are now 109 men and one woman on Georgia's death row.